WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.")

DUCHESS AND SUFFRAGETTES The Duchess of Devonshire, wh< generally a prominent hostess in con: tion with patriotic, societies, figured ; an unpleasant scene on June 13 at ,i meeting of the Colonial Nursing Association at her residence, Devonshire House. Mr. Harcourt was one of the principal speakers, and he had no sooner commenced 'to speak than a lady rose immediately behind Princess Henry of Battenberg. who was present, as patroness, and asked one of those impertinent questions by which the suffragettes make almost all meetings unpleasant. Mr. Harcourt replied that he was dealing with nursing, not with franchise, and .he was not sure •that it was not much more important. Lord Ampthitl, the chairman, asked the lady if she wished the entire proceedings to be suspended while she was removed: and she sat down. Princess Henry, meanwhile, had rather enjoyed the interlude. No sooner had Mr. Harcourt resumed speaking than a second lady, also close to the princess on the platform, rose to speak. The Duches of Devonshire, pale with anger, rose from her seat, and, approaching the interrupters, remarked that they were guests in her house, and that she' had no alterantive but to ask them to leave. The two ladies were then conducted out of the drawing-room.

WEALTHY WOMEN £73,000,000 CONTROLLED BY FOUR WOMEN. SECRET CHAIUTIES. New York, June 12. The courts have designated Miss Christina Arbuckle. aged seventy-two, as the administrator of the £7,000,000 estate left by her brother, the late John Arbuckle, the ''.sugar king," who died intestate last March. ■Mr. Arbuckle was the hero of the famous "Baby Bunting" breach-of-promise case, which occupied more pages of the newspapers a quarter of a century ago than any other similar case on record. This makes four American women who have exclusive control over enormous fortunes, the others being Mrs. E. H. Harriman, to whom the late railway magnate bequeathed £30,000,000; Mrs. Russell Sage, whose husband left licr £16,000,000, and Mrs. Hetty Green, whose own estate is valued at £20,000,000.

These four women thus have the sole management of property of the total value of £73,000,000. The newest recruit to the ranks of the multi-millionairesses has the same personal characteristics that distinguish the others. She lives simply, enjoying the company of old friends, and gives her spare time to cliaritatye work, which she accomplishes as secretly as possible.

Miss Arbuckle assisted her brother in the management of his estate for some years before his death, and she is thoroughly familiar with the details of administration. . She intends particularly to continue her brother's philanthropic works in connection with the Brooklyn church, of which the late Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. The public administrator' 'objected to 1 Miss Arbuckle's appointment, but the courts decided that, despite her age, she wa9 fully competent 1 to' > irianag'e the estate. Her administration will save the estate £75,000 a year, which would have been turned into the New York treasury as the statutory percentage if the public trustee had been given charge. ' i ■ — A BRILLIANT FREAK; BALL. GUESTS IN CAGES.

Paris society no longer has. anything to envy New York for in fancy-dress ball extravagance. Twelve fetes of the kind are to distinguish the season of 1912, and the first of the wonderful series has just been given by the Comtesse de Chabrillan at her house in the Champs Elysees, at which countesses and duchesses were brought into the hall in cages. The programme of the evening consisted of 12 numbers, which were described as the celebration of the Two Thousand and Second Arabian Xights. The tall began with a general gathering of all the 300 guests, dressed in the most varied Oriental and fancy costumes, with a lavish display of gold and silver cloth draperies, precious stones and diamonds. Ambassadors and Ministers and their wives were to be seen with maharajahs in Durbar costumes, and the members of fashionable society in Persian dress.

The first figure was that of the triumphal entry of Sheherazade. The Comtesse de Chabrillan appeared, preceded ■by a troep of children in tiger skins and carrying wreaths of flowers. When Slieherazade was .on at sor,t of throne, M. Andre de Fouquieres, dressed as an Oriental herald, announced through a trumpet the "favorite iinimalsof the Sultan of Baibars." Those then defiled, and consisted of Cbmteise' Charles de Vogue, Mile, de Levis-Mirepoix,' and the Counts du Laun, de Pimodan'and de Beaufort, and M. Johnson.' The next scene was the sixth voyage of Sinbiid the Sailctr,"\vi'tn' an introductory dance executed by Comtesse Bertrand de-Aramon. The'ljueliesse de Bisaccia, the Viseomtesse de la Tour du Pain, and the Comtesse C, de-Hareourt then appeared, dressed as Burman divinities, on a chariot drawn by dukes and princes, clad in whjte_ ,and. green. -A dance followed, representing day and night, which was a gorgeous display of colors. :'•''■•'

A subsequent scene was described on the programme as "L'Histoirc do la Jouvencelle, chef d'oeuvre des coeurs, lieutenant des oiscaux." The programme explained the subject as follows:—Harun-al-Rachid, the Emir of the Faithful, overwhelmed with sadness in his palace at Bagdad, sends his favorite poet, Tshel-el-Nadim, to the distant country on the borders of the Yemen to fetch him some of the marvellous winged or feathered ladies, known as "women-birds." M. France! recited the poet's sing, a cortege then entered, consisting of women slaves and sultanas, to the accompaniment of flutes. After this the women-birds appeared in cages, carried on the shoulders by negro slaves. The women-birds, when they left their cages, turned out to be the Marquise de Xoailles, the Comtesse ,le Vogue, the Duchess re Clermont-Ton-nerre, the Comtesse de Colombier, the Marquise de Sclve, and the Princcssc 11. de Polignac. After this came the scene of the magic horse of ebony and of the white elephant, followed by that of the golden mummies. A procession entered, in which a number of porters carried two huge blue-and-gold urns. When these were opened two mummies appeared, enveloped in gold cloth. They were Duehesse de Ornm•mont and the Comtesse Stanislas de Castellane, and as they advanced slowlv. with a stately step, the golden bands fell off gracefully, and they moved about in a mystic dance, and their hair dyed blur.